Palestinian women waiting at the Qalandia checkpoint to enter Jerusalem and pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan. Photo (archive) by Lazar Simeonov.

The Israeli government has revoked 500 entry permits for Gazans intending to visit their families and re-imposed travel restrictions on the West Bank’s residents travelling to Jerusalem during Ramadan to pray in the Al-Aqsa mosque. According to the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories Unit (COGAT), these steps were taken amidst the recent surge in what they “terrorist attacks” and last week’s rocket fire from Gaza.

“Due to the recent terrorist attacks, family visits from [the West Bank] to Gaza during Ramadan are cancelled. Palestinian women ages 16-30 and men under 50 will require a permit to pray in Jerusalem for Ramadan,” reads the COGAT’s Facebook post.

“Hamas is responsible for the attacks against Israeli civilians and the closing of the crossing,” added COGAT, referring the rockets fired from Beit Hanun in Gaza last Tuesday.

In the first two weeks of Ramadan, Israeli authorities and COGAT reported an upsurge in violent incidents against Israeli citizens in Jerusalem and near Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The most recent incident occurred on Monday, when four Israelis were injured in gunfire from a passing car near the Israeli settlement of Shvut Rachel, south of Nablus.

On Tuesday night, one of Israelis, 25-years old Malachi Moshe Rosenfeld, succumbed to his wounds in Jerusalem Medical Centre, where he was transported shortly after the attack, reported Wafa News Agency.

Following the incident, the IDF announced it would bolster military presence in the Occupied West Bank in order to prevent further attacks and arrest the perpetrators.

Searching for the suspects, the Israeli military stormed the nearby village of Kafr Malik and detained tens of Palestinians.

The IDF’s spokesman told the Ma’an News Agency that the attacks are unlikely to be part of a wider terrorist operation.

“We believe this string of terror attacks will stop as soon as we lay our hands on the perpetrators of the latest terror attacks. There is no infrastructure that guides the terrorists in the Jordan Valley, near Dolev, Rachel’s Tomb or Qalandiya,” he added.

The Palestinian Authority reported several acts of violence against Palestinian citizens of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

On Tuesday, an Israeli soldier fired gun at and wounded an unarmed Palestinian at Qalandiya military checkpoint. The day before, a Palestinian woman was shot by an Israeli guard at Bethlehem crossing after stabbing an Israeli female soldier, who suffered light injuries and was transferred to a hospital in Jerusalem.

Overnight Tuesday, an elderly Palestinian man in his sixties was attacked by a group of Israeli settlers near the West Bank village of Ras Karkar, west of Ramallah. According to the witnesses, he suffered mild injuries and was immediately taken to the Palestinian Medical complex.